Tyeb Mela is a homage to the multifaceted practice of Tyeb Mehta and to his particular interest in tradition, performance and cinema. Spanning two days, the Mela begins with the screening of carefully curated films on the first day. On the second day, a traditional Dhak player group led by Toton Das from Bengal will come and play synchronizing with the series "drummer" that was an integral part of Mehta's work. This performance intervention will be followed by a new performance response piece developed by a set of contemporary dancers led by Manju Sharma. Four dancing bodies will perform across the exhibition's spaces, indulging in a potential gesture mapping of different bodily movements within the artists' visual language. The Mela will conclude with a short panel discussion.

Image courtesy, copyright, and collection of National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Schedule

Day 1: 1 May 2026

Timings:

2.00pm - 2.15pm: Syzygy, 1970

Dir. Akbar Padamsee 

11 min

It is an abstract black and white abstract film inspired by Paul Klee’s pedagogical diagrams, for which Akbar Padamsee developed his own mathematical pattern, and produced 1000 drawings on transparent cell animation sheets. Each drawing is composed of numbers, alphabets, abstract geometric shapes, dots, dashes, based on a differing configuration generated by his own devised code.

KNMA Collection   

2.20pm - 3.45pm: Duvidha, 1973

Dir. Mani Kaul

82 min

A newly-married merchant’s son is sent away for business. A ghost, who laid eyes on the bride, falls madly in love with her and takes the form of the husband and begins living with her.

Language: Hindi

3.45pm - 3.50pm: Dream Houses, 1969

Dir Nalini Malini

3:49 min

The work is a reflection of the post-independence socialist vision of the artists, architects & intelligentsia of the 1960s to build a new modern India. Part of Malani’s Vision Extensive Workshop (VIEW), the video was used making still and moving images. 

KNMA Collection

3.50pm - 4.30pm: Refreshments

4.30pm - 6.35pm: Afternoons of Solitude, 2024

Dir. Albert Serra

125 min

The life of the bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey during a day of bullfighting, from the moment he dresses up to the moment he undresses.

Language: Spanish

6.35pm - 6.45pm: Introduction to Koodal

6.45pm - 7.00pm: Koodal, 1970

Dir. Tyeb Mehta 

15 min

This 1970 film by Tyeb Mehta explores the moments of everyday life, death, and its various intersections and encounters. It presents a non-linear texture of the artists’ observation of public life in its complexities and contradictions. Accompanied by a soundtrack of traditional Carnatic music, the film navigates spaces of temples, rituals, roads, restaurants, and abattoirs. The bull becomes a central motif, both in its everyday presence and in the divine form of Nandi. 

KNMA Collection

7.00pm - 7.45pm: Discussions 

AFTER-HOURS SPECIAL

Timings:

9:00 pm onwards

The Wolf House, 2018

Dir. Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña

74 min

After escaping from a religious colony in Chile, Maria seeks shelter in a mansion where she’s taken in by two pigs, its only inhabitants. Like in a stop-motion dream, the universe of the house reacts to her feelings. The animals slowly morph into humans and the house into a dark, menacing world.

Language - Spanish

Day 2: 2 May 2026

Timings:

2.00pm - 2.30pm: Audience gathering

2.30pm: Dhak Performance Toton Das, Bhakti Das, Khokhan Das    

3.15pm: Refreshments

4.00pm: The drift that gathers - a choreographic exploration of Tyeb Mehta's works by Manju Sharma in collaboration with Riya Mandal, Parinay Mehra, Kunal Sood.

5.30pm: Panel Discussion

DELHI CRAFTS COUNCIL

Delhi Crafts Council is a registered, voluntary non- profit organization working for the promotion and development of traditional artisans and craft skills in a contemporary environment. Sustainable livelihoods is the Council’s first priority, in a sector recognized as the second largest source of employment in India after agriculture.This is supported by emphasis on marketing, design, identification of and support to young talent as well as design and marketing intervention for the revival of languishing crafts. Delhi Crafts Council is affiliated to the Crafts Council of India and to the World Crafts Council. The Council was founded by Smt Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in 1967 and takes its inspiration from her extraordinary contribution to the awareness and promotion of crafts in India. The mission of Delhi Crafts Council is to sustain a commitment of the pioneers of the freedom movement like Kamaladeviji, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and others to secure a central place of dignity and wellbeing for our artisans in a new India. Today the mission is also reinforced by national and international concerns over opportunities and rights for those at the margins of society, the challenge of environmental degradation and the search for green livelihoods in an era of rapid globalization.

Karan Singh

Terracotta

Karan Singh is from Ramgarh, a village in Alwar district in Rajasthan. Both his parents are traditional potters and Karan Singh’s early training was on the wheel from his father and designing from his mother.

His elder brother Om Prakash, a well known terracotta artist, has also had a great influence on his craft. Karan learnt the technique of fine cutwork on terracotta from him as well as the difficult and laborious process of double casting very thin products in terracotta. Karan is the recipient of the Kamaladevi Puraskar of Delhi Crafts Council in 2016

Arshad Kafeel

Arshad Kafeel is the son of Sardar Hussain, a renowned block maker from Pilkhuwa, U.P. Working alongside his father, Arshad has picked up the intricacies of the craft. After his father’s death Arshad has been responsible for sustaining the workshop and marketing many of the new designs in bazaars all over the country. He is a recipient of the Smt. Pingle Kamala Reddy Sanmaan in 2025 awarded by the Crafts Council of Telangana for the excellence of his craft.